[Llarry]

The problem with dropping a high-explosive bomb at low altitude is that the airplane that dropped the bomb may be damaged or destroyed in the explosion. The solution, conceived in the early 1960s and still in use today is the Mark 15 Snake eye (alternative spelling Snakeye) add-on kit for the regular Mark 82 500-pound bomb.

The Snake eye replaces the conical tail cone of the bomb with spring-loaded air brakes that pop out after the bomb is dropped, slowing the forward progress of the bomb -- and allowing the aircraft that dropped the bomb to make a safe escape.

An alternative device for the same purpose was the air-inflated retarding ballute (balloon/parachute) similarly attached to the rear of the bomb. It is unclear to me whether this kit is still in use.

Of course, flying an attacking airplane at low altitude over an enemy target may be hazardous; these days it is much more likely that an attacking aircraft would use a GPS-guided bomb dropped from a much higher altitude.

[Llarry]

Red Rippers then and now...

F3F-1 of VF-4 "Red Rippers" landing aboard USS Ranger (CV 4), 1938. The tail surfaces are green and the lower engine cowling is red.

F/A-18F of VFA-11 "Red Rippers" landing aboard USS Nimitz (CVN 68)

[Llarry]

I've previously explained the three-color camouflage scheme used by U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aircraft -- and some Allies -- in the Pacific in World War II: sea blue as seen from above, white as seen from below and intermediate on the sides to blend the two. But there was one more feature, a bit less obvious, to help make the aircraft a bit of an indistinct blob when seen at a distance. That feature was called countershading. Horizontal features such as wings and horizontal tails naturally produce a dark area underneath due to the shadow of sunlight; countershading attempts to minimize this with a white area that is designed to lighten the shadow effect.

Here are several illustrations of countershading on TBMs. Note the white areas on the fuselage where the wings and tail join. In the last photo, there is a small area of countershading on the PBY's tail.

[Llarry]

A U.S. Air Force E-9A Widget of the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group at Tyndall AFB, Florida. The two E-9As are Bombardier Dash 8s that have been modified with sea surveillance radar for range clearance duties in the Gulf of Mexico. An underside view shows the radar antenna well.

[Llarry]

The U.S. Coast Guard is retiring its fleet of Eurocopter MH-65 Dolphins and transitioning to an all-Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawk force.

The current fleet is about 100 MH-65D/Es and about 45 MH-60Ts so the transition will take quite some time. The MH-60T total includes some airframes that were retired Navy SH-60s modified to MH-60T standard; there should be quite a few retired USN SH-60Bs and SH-60Fs that would be candidates for such modification. In addition, the Coast Guard bought 12 new MH-60Ts in 2023. The goal is 127 MH-60Ts, so they've quite a way to go to get to their desired number.

Three stations have already transitioned to all-MH-60Ts with Kodiak, Alaska, in the midst of becoming the fourth.

[Llarry]

Goodness gracious, I don't know what's become of me... I'm late for Tomcat Thursday again!

[Llarry]

In 1986, the U.S. Navy relinquished its last operational F-4 Phantoms when Carrier Air Wing 5, homeported in Japan and operating from the USS Midway (CV 41), gave up its two F-4S Phantom squadrons and gained three F/A-18C squadrons. For several years, the Midway and sister USS Coral Sea (CV 43) embarked air wings with three F-18 strike fighter squadrons and two small A-6 Intruder attack squadrons.

Here's a photo of one of the last Navy Phantoms of VF-151.

[Lady Jane]

A C-124 Globemaster II and a mystery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1951_A..._disappearance

[Llarry]

Virtually all of the many photos I've posted of World War II Navy and Marine Corps aircraft have been of squadrons in the Pacific, but the units in the Atlantic had a different paint scheme.

Pacific: Dark sea blue on top, white on bottom and intermediate blue along the sides to blend the two. Late in the war transitioning to all dark sea blue.

Atlantic: Mostly white with a little gull gray on upper surfaces. Some types had small areas of dark gull gray on top. No blue.

Here is a scanned page showing Atlantic scheme aircraft, along with a photo of a Consolidated PB4Y-1 patrol plane.

The mission in the Atlantic was quite different than that in the Pacific; Atlantic aircraft were primarily sub hunters for German U boats.

[Llarry]

The second-oldest strike fighter squadron in the Navy is VFA-31, the Tomcatters. They use "Felix" as their callsign and over the years have adorned their aircraft with the vintage cartoon Felix the cat carrying a lit bomb.

They span the period from yellow-winged biplanes to the Super Hornet of today. Their aircraft have not always featured the insignia. As I have posted before, during World War II squadron insignia were limited to several inches in size. During the 1950s Navy carrier aircraft frequently displayed no insignia at all.

Nevertheless, here are some aircraft of the Tomcatters over the period 1930 to today displaying the Felix insignia.